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teams ranging from women’s basketball, soccer,
volleyball and softball at the University of Louisville, men’s and women’s basketball at Bellarmine
University, and high school football at Pleasure
Ridge Park. He also assists Dr. Badenhausen with
summer coverage of the Louisville Bats.
Even during the summer when most of the
other sports are out, there may still be injuries
with school teams due to conditioning accidents.
Dr. Smith keeps busy year round, helping players
and coaches in a variety of ways.
“When you’re on the field side there’s always
something you can do, but your primary duty on
the bench is to be able to tell what’s wrong with
the athlete and make a decision if they’re safe
enough to continue competition,” Dr. Smith said.
“There are sprains. Sometimes you get an athlete who has a cut,
and you’re available to sew those up and get them back in a game.
A lot of it is contusions. You have somebody take a hit with a ball
or another athlete, and you have to determine if they’re safe to go
back in.”
One of the more interesting injuries Dr. Smith assists with are
shoulder dislocations. “One time, we had a kid who played for the
football team at Pleasure Ridge Park. He was this incredible giant
of a kid. Six foot two, 235 pounds, probably benched 350. I ran on
the field and could tell his shoulder was dislocated. I had the other
kids surround me and I pulled it back into place. The minute I did,
the kid jumped up and said ‘Okay, I’m ready to go back in.’ I said,
‘Nope, you have to come back to the sidelines.’ When a person has
a dislocation, they’re completely immobile. All you can think of
is how much it hurts having the joint out of place. But the minute
you get it back in, they’re ready to go.”
Accompanying Dr. Smith to sporting events of all types are his
wife, Terry, of 25 years and their two children, Abby and Nolan, 21
and 20. Abby is a senior at Centre College interested in teaching
and counseling. Nolan is a swimmer at U of L about to enter his
junior year, with an interest in orthopaedics.
“My family has been wonderful as far as sports go. They’ve attended with me. My son went to Ballard High School and at one
point, we decided he’d probably seen more Pleasure Ridge Park
football games than he had Ballard,” joked Dr. Smith
Dr. Smith also assists his partners with a Saturday morning
sports clinic at Ellis & Badenhausen where student athletes can
come for injury evaluation. On Sundays, he and his family attend
Christ Church United Methodist where he has worshiped since
age 3. When they find time to get ]